UPGRADING & FIXING PCS FOR BEGINNERS
WHAT’S NEW IN THIS EDITION? WHERE TO START READ THESE PARTS DON’T READ THESE PARTS HOW THIS BOOK IS ORGANIZED PART I: BORING, BASIC REPAIRS PART II: BEEFING UP YOUR PC FOR WINDOWS VISTA, GAMES, AND VIDEO PART III: TEACHING AN OLD PC NEW TRICKS PART IV: COMMUNICATIONS PART V: INTRODUCING PARTS TO WINDOWS PART VI: THE PART OF TENS ICONS USED IN THIS BOOK WHERE TO GO FROM HERE DETERMINING WHEN TO UPGRADE DETERMINING WHEN YOU SHOULDN’T UPGRADE FINDING OUT WHAT PARTS YOUR COMPUTER HAS LOCATING YOUR VERSION OF WINDOWS, CPU, AND RAM IDENTIFYING THE PARTS INSIDE YOUR COMPUTER PLEASE! BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE! TURNING ON WINDOWS UPDATE MAKING SURE SYSTEM RESTORE IS WORKING UPDATING YOUR KEYBOARD UNDERSTANDING KEYBOARD BUZZWORDS INSTALLING A NEW KEYBOARD FIXING KEYBOARD PROBLEMS MAKING WAY FOR A NEW MOUSE UNDERSTANDING MOUSE BUZZWORDS INSTALLING OR REPLACING A USB OR PS/2 MOUSE FIXING MOUSE PROBLEMS UPGRADING JOYSTICKS AND GAME CONTROLLERS UNDERSTANDING GAME CONTROLLER BUZZWORDS INSTALLING A GAME CONTROLLER FIXING GAME CONTROLLER PROBLEMS UNDERSTANDING MONITOR BUZZWORDS MONITOR BUZZWORDS THE PLUGS AND PORTS INSTALLING ONE OR TWO MONITORS TO A PC OR LAPTOP WATCHING YOUR PC ON A TV FIXING YOUR MONITOR FIXING A MONITOR THAT DOESN’T TURN ON CHECKING A MONITOR THAT MAKES WEIRD NOISES UNDERSTANDING PRINTER BUZZWORDS COMMONLY ENCOUNTERED PRINTER BREEDS AWKWARD PRINTER TERMS INSTALLING A PRINTER FIXING COMMON PRINTER PROBLEMS FIXING A PRINTER THAT DOESN’T PRINT ANYTHING PLAYING THE REPLACEMENT INK CARTRIDGE GUILT GAME INSTALLING A NEW TONER OR INK CARTRIDGE FIXING PRINTING SMEARS AND BLOTCHES CHOOSING THE RIGHT PAPER KEEPING THE PRINT FROM RUNNING OFF THE PAGE FIXING PAPER JAMS KEEPING YOUR PRINTER HAPPY UNDERSTANDING FILE TRANSFER BUZZWORDS PREPARING TO MOVE INTO YOUR NEW PC CHOOSING HOW TO TRANSFER YOUR OLD INFORMATION INSTALLING YOUR OLD PC’S PROGRAMS ONTO YOUR NEW PC TRANSFERRING INFORMATION BETWEEN TWO PCS WITH WINDOWS EASY TRANSFER CHAPTER 6: DISCOVERING HOW WELL YOUR PC WILL RUN WINDOWS VISTA UNDERSTANDING VISTA’S HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS RUNNING VISTA’S UPGRADE ADVISOR UNDERSTANDING PARTS THAT NEED UPGRADING TV TUNER CARD/TV OUTPUT CPU (CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT) DVD OR DVD R/W (DIGITAL VIDEO DISK READ/WRITE) RAM (RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY) GRAPHICS ADAPTER HARD DRIVE CHOOSING THE RIGHT PARTS FROM THE RIGHT PLACE CHOOSING THE RIGHT BRAND AND MODEL BUYING LOCALLY VERSUS BUYING ONLINE UNDERSTANDING VIDEO BUZZWORDS DISCOVERING WHAT VIDEO CIRCUITRY IS INSIDE YOUR PC ONBOARD VIDEO VIDEO CARDS INSTALLING A NEW VIDEO CARD TROUBLESHOOTING A CARD THAT DOESN’T WORK GENERAL TROUBLESHOOTING TIPS DEALING WITH A CARD THAT JUST DOESN’T SEEM TO FIT UNDERSTANDING MEMORY BUZZWORDS THE MAIN TYPES OF MEMORY DECIPHERING MEMORY ADVERTISEMENTS AND PACKAGING DECIDING WHAT MEMORY TO BUY INSTALLING MEMORY CHIPS DEALING WITH FAILING MEMORY UNDERSTANDING HARD DRIVE BUZZWORDS VISTA TECHNOLOGIES DRIVE TYPES SPEED AND SPACE HARD DRIVE HARDWARE, MECHANICS, AND CONNECTIONS KNOWING YOUR HARD DRIVE UPGRADE OPTIONS REPLACING A DEAD INTERNAL HARD DRIVE INSTALLING AN EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE ADDING A SECOND INTERNAL HARD DRIVE ADDING EXTRA STORAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER WITH A SECOND HARD DRIVE INSTALLING WINDOWS ON A NEW HARD DRIVE PARTITIONING AND FORMATTING A DRIVE IN WINDOWS DEALING WITH A BROKEN HARD DRIVE WINDOWS DOESN’T RECOGNIZE MY HARD DRIVE’S FULL SIZE DEFRAGMENTING THE HARD DRIVE CHECKING FOR DISK ERRORS BACKING UP YOUR HARD DRIVE UNDERSTANDING POWER SUPPLY BUZZWORDS INSTALLING A NEW POWER SUPPLY REPLACING YOUR LAPTOP’S BATTERY QUIETING YOUR POWER SUPPLY WHINING POWER SUPPLIES: REPLACE ’EM DIAGNOSING THE SOURCE OF A WHINING NOISE UNDERSTANDING SOUND CARD BUZZWORDS UPGRADING YOUR PC’S OR LAPTOP’S SOUND INSTALLING A NEW SOUND CARD INSTALLING A SOUND BOX CONNECTING YOUR PC’S SOUND TO A HOME STEREO HEALING A SICK SOUND CARD FIXING WINDOWS SOUND SETTINGS DIAGNOSING AND FIXING HARDWARE PROBLEMS IDENTIFYING THE CABLES AND CONNECTORS ON YOUR TV TUNER AND TV INSTALLING A TV TUNER CONNECTING YOUR TV SIGNAL TO YOUR PC CONNECTING YOUR PC’S VIDEO TO A TV CONNECTING YOUR PC’S SURROUND SOUND TO A MULTISPEAKER HOME STEREO CONNECTING YOUR PC’S SOUND TO A TV UNDERSTANDING CAMCORDER BUZZWORDS CAPTURING SOUND AND VIDEO FROM DIGITAL CAMCORDERS UPGRADING A PC FOR VIDEO EDITING A FAST COMPUTER TWO FAST HARD DRIVES VIDEO-EDITING SOFTWARE UNDERSTANDING SCANNER BUZZWORDS INSTALLING A SCANNER DEALING WITH A SCANNER THAT DOESN’T WORK SCANNING WITH WINDOWS’ BUILT-IN SOFTWARE CHOOSING THE RIGHT SCANNING RESOLUTION DEALING WITH SCANS THAT LOOK AWFUL UNDERSTANDING CD AND DVD BUZZWORDS FLAVORS OF CDS AND CD DRIVES FLAVORS OF DVDS AND DVD DRIVES BUZZWORDS IN ADVERTISING INSTALLING AN EXTERNAL CD OR DVD DRIVE INSTALLING AN INTERNAL CD OR DVD DRIVE DEALING WITH A CD OR DVD DRIVE THAT DOESN’T WORK DEALING WITH A BURNER THAT DOESN’T BURN DISCS UNDERSTANDING MP3 AND DVD DECODERS (MPEG) BUYING THE RIGHT BLANK DISCS FOR YOUR CD OR DVD DRIVE UNDERSTANDING THE VARIOUS TYPES OF INTERNET SERVICES DIALUP OR POTS (PLAIN OLD TELEPHONE SERVICE) CABLE MODEMS DSL (DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE) INSTALLING OR REPLACING A MODEM REPLACING YOUR INTERNAL DIALUP MODEM INSTALLING AN EXTERNAL DIALUP MODEM REPLACING A CABLE MODEM TROUBLESHOOTING MODEM PROBLEMS WINDOWS VISTA CAN’T FIND MY DIALUP MODEM! SETTING UP YOUR INTERNET ACCOUNT WITH INTERNET EXPLORER SENDING AND RECEIVING FAXES WITH A MODEM DEALING WITH A MODEM THAT INAPPROPRIATELY DISCONNECTS UNDERSTANDING NETWORK BUZZWORDS CHOOSING BETWEEN A WIRED OR WIRELESS NETWORK UNDERSTANDING WIRELESS (WI-FI) HOME NETWORKS UNDERSTANDING WIRED HOME NETWORKS CREATING A WIRED AND WIRELESS COMPUTER NETWORK BUYING PARTS FOR YOUR NETWORK INSTALLING WIRED OR WIRELESS NETWORK ADAPTERS CONNECTING WIRELESSLY SETTING UP A WIRELESS ROUTER SETTING UP WINDOWS VISTA TO CONNECT TO A WIRELESS NETWORK CONNECTING TO AND SHARING FILES WITH OTHER PCS ON YOUR NETWORK SHARING A PRINTER ON THE NETWORK DEALING WITH A NETWORK THAT ISN’T NETWORKING FIXING PROBLEMS WITH WIRED NETWORKS FIXING PROBLEMS WITH WIRELESS NETWORKS UNDERSTANDING FIREWALL BUZZWORDS TURNING ON (OR OFF) WINDOWS VISTA’S FIREWALL LETTING A PROGRAM POKE THROUGH WINDOWS VISTA’S FIREWALL MANUALLY CONFIGURING A FIREWALL’S PORTS UNDERSTANDING DRIVER BUZZWORDS INSTALLING (OR REINSTALLING) A DRIVER DEALING WITH A DRIVER THAT WON’T DRIVE RUNNING A PART’S BUNDLED SOFTWARE RUNNING THE ADD HARDWARE WIZARD FINDING A NEW DRIVER USING THE DEVICE MANAGER TO FIX DRIVER PROBLEMS UNDERSTANDING WINDOWS VISTA BUZZWORDS PREPARING TO INSTALL WINDOWS VISTA CHOOSING THE RIGHT VERSION OF WINDOWS VISTA CHOOSING BETWEEN A CLEAN INSTALL OR AN UPGRADE INSTALLING WINDOWS VISTA UPGRADING TO WINDOWS VISTA DOING A CLEAN INSTALL OF WINDOWS VISTA HANDLING WINDOWS VISTA’S INCOMPATIBILITIES UNDERSTANDING INCOMPATIBILITY BUZZWORDS FINDING OUT WHAT’S COMPATIBLE FIXING PROBLEM PROGRAMS WITH VISTA’S PROGRAM COMPATIBILITY WIZARD STOPPING UNWANTED PROGRAMS FROM RUNNING WHEN WINDOWS STARTS FINDING INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR PC’S PERFORMANCE WITH TASK MANAGER USING SYSTEM RESTORE USING REMOTE ASSISTANCE CLEANING OUT YOUR HARD DRIVE WITH DISK CLEANUP TIDYING UP YOUR HARD DRIVE WITH DISK DEFRAGMENTER VIEWING ADVANCED SYSTEM INFORMATION AVOIDING VIRUS AND WORM ATTACKS USE WINDOWS UPDATE OFTEN INSTALL AND USE ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE NEVER OPEN E-MAIL WITH UNEXPECTED ATTACHMENTS SCAN DOWNLOADED SOFTWARE FOR VIRUSES BEFORE USING IT USE A FIREWALL DON’T FORWARD HOAXES REPAIRING VIRUS DAMAGE UNDERSTANDING INTERNET BUZZWORDS FINDING HELP THROUGH SEARCH ENGINES SEARCHING GOOGLE FOR SPECIFIC INFORMATION MASTERING THE ART OF PINPOINT GOOGLE SEARCHING CHECKING THE MANUFACTURER’S SUPPORT WEB SITE MICROSOFT KNOWLEDGE BASE SERIAL NUMBER AND SERVICE TAG WEB SITES MANUFACTURER’S WEB SITES IN OTHER COUNTRIES COMMUNITY SUPPORT WEB SITES TOM’S HARDWARE GUIDE ACRONYM FINDER WIKIPEDIA LEGACY, RELIC, AND CULT WEB SITES PLUG IT IN TURN OFF THE COMPUTER, WAIT 30 SECONDS, AND TURN IT ON INSTALL A NEW DRIVER GOOGLE THE ERROR MESSAGE FIND AND REMOVE SPYWARE AVOID VIRUSES BY NOT OPENING UNEXPECTED ATTACHMENTS RUN SYSTEM RESTORE CHECK FOR OVERHEATING INSTALL A NEW POWER SUPPLY RUN CHECK DISK USING THE MANUAL AND ONLINE SOURCES THE FIRST TOOLS TO GRAB TURNING HOUSEHOLD ITEMS INTO TOOLS MAGNETIZED SCREWDRIVERS AND DUST BLOWERS YOUR WINDOWS VISTA DVD OR WINDOWS XP CD DO UPGRADE ONE THING AT A TIME DO MAKE A RESTORE POINT BEFORE EVERY UPGRADE DO WATCH OUT FOR STATIC ELECTRICITY DO HANG ON TO YOUR OLD BOXES, MANUALS, WARRANTIES, AND RECEIPTS DON’T FORCE PARTS TOGETHER DON’T BEND CARDS DON’T RUSH YOURSELF DON’T OPEN UP MONITORS OR POWER SUPPLIES